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ACT OF CONTRITION
My
God, I am sorry for my sins
with all my heart andI detest them.
In
choosing to do wrong and failing to do good,
I have sinned against you
whom I should love above all things.
I
firmly intend, with your help,
to do penance, to sin no more,
and to avoid whatever leads me to sin.
Our
Savior JesusChrist suffered and died for us.
In
his name, my God, have mercy.
Amen.
FIRST COMMANDMENT
"I am the Lord your God. You shall not have strange
gods before Me." (Ex 20:2,3)
- Did I doubt or deny that God
exists?
- Did I refuse to believe what
God as revealed to us?
- Did I believe in fortune telling,
horoscopes, dreams, the occult, good-luck charms, tarot cards,
palmistry, Ouija boards, seances, reincarnation?
- Did I deny that I was Catholic?
- Did I leave the Catholic Faith?
- Did I give time to God each
day in prayer?
- Did I love God with my whole
heart?
- Did I despair of or presume
on God's mercy?
- Did I have false gods in my
life that I gave greater attention to than God, like money,
profession, drugs, TV, fame, pleasure, property, etc.?
SECOND COMMANDMENT
"You shall not take the Name of the Lord your God
in vain." (Ex 20:7)
- Did I blaspheme or insult
God?
- Did I take God's name carelessly
or uselessly?
- Did I curse, or break an oath
or vow?
- Did I get angry with God?
THIRD COMMANDMENT
"Remember that you keep holy the Sabbath Day."
(Ex 20:8)
- Did I miss Mass Sunday or
a Holy Day of Obligation through my own fault?
- Did I come to Mass on time?
Leave early?
- Did I do work on Sunday that
was not necessary?
- Did I set aside Sunday as
a day of rest and a family day?
- Did I show reverence in the
presence of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament?
FOURTH COMMANDMENT
"Honor your father and your mother." (Ex 20:12)
- Did I disobey or disrespect
my parents or legitimate superiors?
- Did I neglect my duties to
my husband, wife, children or parents?
- Did I neglect to give good
religious example to my family?
- Did I fail to actively take
an interest in the religious education and formation of my
children?
- Did I fail to educate myself
on the true teachings of the Church?
- Did I give scandal by what
I said or did, especially to the young?
- Did I cause anyone to leave
the faith?
- Did I cause tension and fights
in my family?
- Did I care for my aged and
infirm relatives?
- Did I give a full day's work
for a full day's pay?
- Did I give a fair wage to
my employees?
FIFTH COMMANDMENT
"You shall not kill." (Ex 20:13)
- Did I kill or physically injure
anyone?
- Did I have an abortion, or
advise someone else to have an abortion? (One who procures
and abortion is automatically excommunicated, as is anyone
who is involved in an abortion, Canon 1398. The excommunication
will be lifted in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.)
- Did I use or cause my spouse
to use birth control pills (whether or not realizing that
birth control pills do abort the fetus if and when conceived)?
- Did I attempt suicide?
- Did I take part in or approve
of "mercy killing" (euthanasia)?
- Did I get angry, impatient,
envious, unkind, proud, revengeful, jealous, hateful toward
another, lazy?
- Did I give bad example by
drug abuse, drinking alcohol to excess, fighting, quarreling?
- Did I abuse my children?
SIXTH COMMANDMENT
"You shall not commit adultery." (Ex 20:14)
"You shall not covet your neighbor's wife." (Ex 20:17)
Note:
In the area of deliberate sexual sins listed below, all are
mortal sins if there is sufficient reflection and full consent
of the will. "No fornicators, idolaters, or adulterers,
no sodomites,... will inherit the kingdom of God." (1 Cor
6:9-10) "Anyone who looks lustfully at a woman has already
committed adultery with her in his thoughts." (Mt 5:28)
- Did I willfully entertain
impure thoughts or desires?
- Did I use impure or suggestive
words? Tell impure stories? Listen to them?
- Did I deliberately look at
impure TV, videos, plays, pictures or movies? Or deliberately
read impure materials?
- Did I commit impure acts by
myself (masturbation)?
- Did I commit impure acts with
another - fornication (premarital sex), adultery (sex with
a married person)?
- Did I practice artificial
birth control (by pills, device, withdrawal)?
- Did I marry or advise anyone
to marry outside the Church?
- Did I avoid the occasions
of impurity?
- Did I try to control my thoughts?
- Did I engage in homosexual
activity?
- Did I respect all members
of the opposite sex, or have I thought of other people as
objects?
- Did I or my spouse have sterilization
done?
- Did I abuse my marriage rights?
SEVENTH & TENTH
COMMANDMENTS
"You shall not steal." (Ex 20:15) "You
shall not covet your neighbor's goods." (Ex 20:17)
- Did I steal, cheat, help or
encourage others to steal or keep stolen goods? Have I made
restitution for stolen goods?
- Did I fulfill my contracts;
give or accept bribes; pay my bills; rashly gamble or speculate;
deprive my family of the necessities of life?
- Did I waste time at work,
school or at home?
- Did I envy other people's
families or possessions?
- Did I make material possessions
the purpose of my life?
EIGHTH COMMANDMENT
"You shall not bear false witness against your
neighbor." (Ex 20:16)
- Did I lie?
- Did I deliberately deceive
others, or injure others by lies?
- Did I commit perjury?
- Did I gossip or reveal others'
faults or sins?
- Did I fail to keep secret
what should be confidential?
OTHER SINS
- Did I fast on Ash Wednesday
and Good Friday?
- Did I eat meat on the Fridays
of Lent or Ash Wednesday?
- Did I fail to receive Holy
Communion during Eastertime?
- Did I go to Holy Communion
in a state of mortal sin? Without fasting (water and medicine
permitted) for one hour from food and drink?
- Did I make a bad confession?
- Did I fail to contribute to
the support of the Church?
"Whoever
eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily sins
against the Body and Blood of the Lord. ... He who eats and
drinks without recognizing the Body eats and drinks judgement
on himself." (1 Cor 11:27-29)
So,
to receive Holy Communion while in the state of mortal sin (having
committed a mortal sin which has not been confessed and forgiven
in the Sacrament of Confession) is itself a mortal sin - a mortal
sin of sacrilege.
"O
God, be merciful to me, a sinner." (Lk 18:13)
"Whose
sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven..." (Jn 20:23)
"Though
your sins be like scarlet, they shall become white as snow.
Though they be red like crimson, they shall become white as
wool." (Is 1:18)
"If
we confess our sins, He who is upright can be depended upon
to forgive sins, and to cleanse us from every wrong." (1
Jn 1:9)
"Father,
forgive them; they do not know what they are doing." (Lk
23:24)
"Forgive
us our sins, for we too forgive all who do us wrong." (Lk
11:4)
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